Our History

Our History

Established in January of 1985, Estate Sales Unlimited opened its doors with a small resale store located in Hillsboro, just outside Portland, Oregon. The store offered an assortment of quality used merchandise, from antique to contemporary. It also allowed us to advertise our estate liquidation services.

With a little bit of determination, I set out to contact every personal property professional in the local area. Those efforts paid off, and we developed a sizable client base.

Four years later, and approaching our 100th Onsite Estate Sale (I now refer to them as “Tag Sales”), I couldn’t ignore the inefficiency in the time spent both during setup and sale time, as well as the lost revenue, not allowing items a chance to bring the maximum the market would bear that day. People would fight with one another to be the first through in door, and subsequently, many of the choice pieces were sold moments after the sale began. Customers wouldn’t know if items they saw advertised would even be available by the time they arrived.

Though Onsite Estate Auctions weren’t that popular when dealing with personal property, other than farms and antiques, they simply made the most sense. So we made the decision to change the way we handed estates. Everyone would now have an equal opportunity to buy, no more pushing and shoving. No more long lines before the doors opened. In fact I found people’s moods improved, friendships started amongst the customers, and the estate auctions were incredibly well received and attended.

Then in January of 2003, at the request of many of our clients and customers, we opened the ESU Hillsboro Auction Center. It was an instant success. Located in the old West Union Grocery Store building, just North of Hillsboro, we were now able to handle any estate related merchandise, from large estates, to individual pieces.

Though we continue to handle Onsite Sales, as they are the roots of our business, the Auction Center offers a diverse and entertaining resale outlet for our customers to enjoy.